Friday, 4 March 2011

Barbados is on the list of countries whose nationals are seeking asylum in the United States, claiming they are being persecuted because of their sexual orientation.

And while Barbados’ Ambassador to the United States, John Beale, said the State Department had not raised the issue with him officially, he is concerned about it because of the damage which the claims can cause to the country’s image.

“We certainly haven’t had any discussion on this with the State Department,” Beale told the Saturday Sun. “We haven’t been approached by any Barbadian on this matter.”

Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Dominica, the Bahamas and St Lucia are among the countries whose nationals consider the atmosphere at home so hostile to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-gender (LGBT) people that they are seeking asylum in the United States.

Twenty-nine gays and lesbians who were from Jamaica won the right to stay in the United States.

Other success cases were: Grenada, four; Trinidad and Tobago, two; and one each from Dominica, Guyana, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadians.

In addition, there were seven from Russia; four each from Peru and Uzbekistan; and three each from Venezuela, Ghana, Mexico and El Salvador.

“The Caribbean is part of the world where we see the highest number of cases,” Nelson said.

“. . . In many Caribbean countries there are laws on the books that criminalize consensual sodomy, which makes it difficult for people to report violence to the police.

“[Jamaica] is one of the most violent, homophobic countries that exist in the Western hemisphere,” she added.

Barbados is among the island-nations with anti-sodomy laws on its statute books.

Neilson warned that the existence of anti-sodomy laws could create a climate of fear and anger that would adversely affect gays and lesbians.

“Even if it’s not common in countries with sodomy laws to bring criminal prosecutions based on those, the fact that the laws exist helps to reinforce a climate of violence or intolerance towards gays and lesbians,” she asserted.

“It makes it much more difficult for LGBT people to seek protection from the state if they are experiencing private violence or private threats because there is always a fear that they could be arrested, or what happens more often is that the police simply laugh at them or say it’s your own fault.”